Word: protactinium
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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...mile a second. Fast neutrons would bounce off or pass through the thorium, but at this speed neutrons are moving slowly enough to be captured by thorium 232 atoms, turning them into unstable thorium 233. When thorium 233 decays, after a brief half life of 23 minutes, it becomes protactinium 233, which in turn decays after a half life of 27 days, becomes uranium 233, a full-fledged nuclear fuel as fissionable as the better known radioactive uranium isotope...
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